Open doors day at Edgar Savisaar's house

Estonian opposition leader and suspended Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar has decided to open up his home farm Hundisilma for visitors, if only for a half day.

“Bring along a positive energy that was taken away from this farm by KaPo (the Estonian Internal Security Service). Just like the support from kind people helped me to overcome my serious illness, I hope now that the good energy by supporters will help to get rid of the negative marks left by uninvited guests,” Savisaar said in the invitation, published by Tallinn City Government's taxpayer-funded paper Pealinn (Capital).

The paper said that Tallinn's Mayor will open the doors of his private residence at midday on the coming Sunday, and the guests can look around in the farmyard as well as check out Savisaar's living quarters – all with a “help of a guide”, who speaks Estonian and Russian.

Savisaar told Pealinn that he felt “disturbed” and has found it difficult to stay at home, since KaPo searched it a few weeks ago, following the bribery allegations against him. “I feel as if my home was burgled. My library was interspersed, they took my photo albums and pictures. They basically defiled Hundisilma,” said Savisaar, who blamed KaPo for “leaving chaos behind.”

Savisaar said that after the search, he contemplated on the idea of selling his farm, but has now chosen to retain it as his home. “But in order to recover the old, positive, energy, I have decided to organize a 'clean-up day',” he said, promising also to provide everyone with a signed souvenir postcard, as well as warm soup and entertainment by vocalist Erich Krieger.

Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar was named suspect in four episodes of corruption on September 22: unjustified extension of a lease contract for which he obtained benefits; allowing the construction of a house that lacked a building permit to continue in return for assets; exchange of land plots and promised compensation; and an episode connected to a tender, for which property or assets were obtained. Savisaar has so far rejected all the accusations against him.

Savisaar was suspended from mayor's office, pending investigation, on September 30 by the Harju County Court.

Following the suspension, some former Center Party members said that from now on, the capital of Estonia will be governed from Savisaar's Hundisilma farm, which is at the Vihula Parish, 100 kilometers from Tallinn.

A new study by researchers at the University of Tartu found that 32 percent of Estonian children and young people experience sexual abuse, but that only a small percentage of them ever turn to a specialist with the problem.

Making for quite the start into the new year, the presidential wedding of 2 January has attracted a lot of attention. Ieva Ilves, Estonia's new First Lady, has granted ERR her first interview, broadcasted today January 14.

The Center Party's attempt to throw out the act that allows the registration of same-sex couples seems to be gathering momentum. After the Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE), IRL is now considering supporting the bid as well.

Estonian businessman Oleg Ossinovski is officially a suspect in the case of Ugis Magonis, the former head of Latvijas Dzelzcels (LDz, Latvian Railway) who was arrested in August 2015 on suspicions of graft, and it will soon be handed to the prosecutor's office, said Prosecutor General Eriks Kalnmeiers in an interview with commercial LNT television on Thursday.

The Estonian Chamber of Notaries has drawn up recommendations regarding the Cohabitation Act, which gives same-sex couples the right to legally register their relationship. The act is due to enter force on January 1, but implementing acts to the law were not passed by Parliament in time, causing legal confusion.

The referendum on same-sex marriages in Slovenia, where 63.5 percent voted against giving same-sex couple the right to marry, has given new energy to the anti camp in Estonia too, says Erkki Bahovski, head of the Diplomaatia magazine.

The fear of refugees is largely grounded in socio-economic insecurities of people with low income and education level, found a poll commission by the Goverment Office. At the same time, the number of people who say that refugees deserve our help has increased since the last poll in July.

The government plans to set a maximum immigration quota of 0.1 percent of the total population, or just below 1,320 people for 2016. Minister of Entrepreneurship Liisa Oviir sees a need to increase the number in the coming years.

The Supreme Court ruled that former Port of Tallinn supervisory board chairman and current Estonian Olympic Committee president Neinar Seli is guilty of overseeing donations by the port authority to the committee.

Implementing acts to the much debated Cohabitation Act, which gives same-sex couples more rights, will not be passed this year, meaning the initial act will enter force on January 1 with a number of legal loopholes and problems.

When asked about the most important episodes in Estonian history, most Estonians tend to bring out similar events. Tallinn University's professor of cultural history Marek Tamm claims that on the one hand, this can be attributed to the revolutionary importance of these events. On the other hand, it comes from the shared common memory, which helps Estonians remember the story of the their everlasting fight for freedom.

In an annual tradition dating back to 1994, the Estonian Newspaper Association (EALL) has named the year's most press friendly figure and the most unfriendly figure, with police chief Elmar Vaher named the former and businessman Rein Kilk the latter.

Prosecutor General Lavly Perling said if corruption is not investigated then it supposedly is non-existent and Estonia can climb international rankings in the short-term, adding that the effects will kick in later when people discover corruption has set in in new places.

Former First Lady Evelin Ilves said President Toomas Hendrik Ilves's recent engagement new answers many questions asked from her since August 2014, when she was pictured in an intimate embrace with an unidentified younger man at a Tallinn roof-top hotspot.